Bird, bird, bird...Squirrel!: Colorado 2017 - Rocky Mountain National Park : Day 3

Our first stop on day 3 was to check out Estes Lake in the bright sunshine, rather than the snowy, gray afternoon that had greeted us on day 1. Although there was still a strong wind blowing which kept the birds hunkered down, we still managed to have a great short walk. Off the main path there was a dirt trail that led down to a stand of conifers jutting out into the lake. Conifers tend to create a fantastic windbreak, so most of the birds were hanging out in this small area. We were first greeted by a few Black-billed Magpies, followed by many American Crows, and a few Common Ravens and Mountain Chickadees! I noticed that while we were in this area, one of the ravens was watching us intently, and not flying away like the other birds were doing when we got too close. We even walked right under the bird while he/she sat about 6 feet above our heads, with no reaction. After we left the area, my partner realized that he had lost his sunglasses during a battle with his scarf in the wind, but he knew his glasses had to be somewhere on that small spit of land. With nobody else out on the trail, we were sure we could find the sunglasses if we went back and combed the area. After about 15 minutes of searching, no glasses were to be found. However, the raven that had been watching us earlier was gone. Our theory was that the raven had seen the glasses fall, and really needed a new decoration in his/her cache, so the bird had been hanging around us waiting for the right moment to swoop down and grab them.

The big white complex with the red roof in the background is the Stanley Hotel which was the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining"

Looking back at downtown Estes Park

Common Mergansers on Lake Estes

Mountain Chickadee

While the day was still young, we hopped back in the car and drove out to Lumpy Ridge. This area is remarkably different from the main part of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) in that it is literally "lumpy". Rather than the regular conical-esque mountain peaks, there are random slabs and spires of rock shooting out of the ridgeline. This creates a lot of little nooks and crannies that are very well sheltered from the wind and provide fantastic places for birds to spend the winter.

Lumpy Ridge...here we go!

Our first discovery on this trail was the ingenious way in which the gate was kept closed...just a heavy rock bolted to a chain. Simple and effective. The next thing I noticed was a bull Elk watching us from his "bed" just up the hill a bit from the trail. I am sure that the people who were in front of us never saw him laying there. We kept a close eye on him as we walked down the trail to make sure that he wasn't being disturbed by our presence.

Genius!

We had just started up the first hill of the trail when I heard a sound that stopped me in my tracks. Pygmy Nuthatches!!!! I had pretty much given up all hope of seeing them on this trip, but there they were in all their tiny cuteness, along with a handful of Mountain Chickadees! We stayed with this flock for quite a while, and they eventually came close enough for some reasonably good photos! Definitely my favorite nuthatch!

Pygmy Nuthatch

Once the flock moved along, we climbed to the top of the little hill and I found a place to put down my backpack so I could safely store my camera until the next exciting avian discovery. I had just zipped up my backpack when I heard my partner say "hey do they have Mockingbirds here?" I immediately asked to see the bird he was looking at, and realized that it was a Townsend's Solitaire! This was another bird that I had given up hope on seeing this trip! I ripped the camera out of the bag so fast that I am pretty sure sparks flew, and took a few id-quality shots of the bird before it flew off. Little did we know that we would have over 10 more of these sneaky birds pop up on this trail, several of which were within 15 feet of us!

Townsend's Solitaire

Lumpiness

The famous "Twin Owls" rock formation

The rock climber in me was itching to climb something!

The view from the highest point of our hike.

Looking back at the trail

A perfect postcard

That was a BIG ROCK!

Nothing much happened along the rest of the trail, except for the Townsend's Solitaires popping out everywhere, but the scenery was amazing!!! We also happened across the most adorable Chickaree (Red Squirrel) who was dismantling a pine cone right over the trail!

Pulling the pine cone apart with teeth and paws.

My favorite photo of the whole trip!

Adorable!!!

Such amazing scenery!

By the time we finished our hike at Lumpy Ridge, it was getting late in the day, but now that the roads were in a much better condition, we wanted to try visiting the Cub Lake trail again. When we first arrived there were several American Robins around, and a Black-billed Magpie, but not much else. We took a short hike down the trail through two different habitats, and braved some stinging "snownados" whipped up from the open fields, but didn't see much else. The light was starting to fade at this point, so we headed back to the parking lot. We were within view of the car when the most amazing thing happened...a flock of a dozen Common Redpolls dropped out of the sky and started feeding on the seeds leftover on the dead vegetation next to the trail! It was magical!